The present invention relates to card processing systems of the type used for producing personalized information bearing cards.
The invention is a modular card processing system which readily permits the assembly and reconfiguration of an application specific card processing system from card processing modules.
Card processing systems are used to produce a number of unique or personalized information bearing cards from unprocessed or partially processed cards. The cards being processed might already have been partially processed so as to have personalized information and/or may already include batch information, security codes, etc. Plastic cards of this type have been widely adopted for use as credit cards, identification cards, drivers' licenses and the like. Such cards may be encoded with various types of information. For example, graphic information, such as photographs and logos and the like as well as alphanumeric information such as account numbers and names, may be encoded onto the cards.
The information placed onto the cards is often referred to as card data. Card data is usually provided to the card processing system as a data structure stored on magnetic tape or other media. Prior art card processing systems, represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,706, teach the inclusion of a host computer in the card processing system to read the data structures from the magnetic tape. The host computer then transfers this data to card processing electronics. The card processing electronics then generate the required card processing signals to instruct the system to perform the various card processing operations.
Existing card processing systems typically are constructed with a fixed size chassis capable of containing a given size and fixed number of card processing modules. There are inherent problems with the construction:
1. The number of card processing functions required by the application varies according to the application. This means that the chassis will, quite often, be too large or too small for a given application. PA1 2. It is difficult to build, test, and stock final assembled card processing systems without incurring a large risk of needing to modify and re-test the final assemblies based on matching the quantity and type of card processing functions required by the application. PA1 1. Mechanical: New or revised card processing modules may be added as a unit to the card processing system with minimal impact on the system as a whole and on neighboring modules. The modules will all follow the mechanical interface defined herein covering the passing of cards between modules, module size, and enclosure. PA1 2. Electrical: Each module will receive its AC power via a power bus in a standard fashion. All digital communication protocols will be over a common serial bus, and will not be dependent on position in the module stack. PA1 3. Software: The system controller will issue a common set of commands to all modules. Additionally, any unique software components required for a module can be added via use of techniques such as dynamic linking or configuration/make facility without modifying other software components.
A problem with the prior art approach is that the card processing systems are assembled and operated as a unitary structure. Both the hardware and the software are constructed, tested and debugged as a unit. As a consequence, construction and modification of such systems is difficult and expensive.
This invention overcomes these problems by allowing the chassis to always be as large or small as it needs to be. It also allows modules to be built and tested prior to configuration into a system. In fact, modules can be built, tested, packaged and shipped to a job site prior to assembly into a system. Moreover, the present invention provides a modular card processing system which can be reconfigured at the job site so as to add or remove modules as dictated by the changing needs of the application.
A problem common to many prior art input hoppers is that they do not have a break mechanism to prevent movement of the card pusher while cards are being reloaded into the input hopper and/or to allow cards to be loaded without interrupting operations.
Another problem common to prior art systems is that their inserter/burster apparatus are not readily adaptable for use with commercially available printers such that the user can replace and interchange printers as desired depending on the desired results. For example, in some cases it is desirable to have color printing whereas in others black and white dot matrix printing is acceptable.
Yet another problem with many prior art systems is that their inserter/burster apparatus are not able to print on the top of a form. Thus the area which can be printed on the form is limited. Still another problem with many prior art systems is that they do not maintain uniform tension across the width of the paper. Yet another problem is that many do not provide a uniform tension on the form as the form is being printed by the printer and prior to feeding through to the burster mechanism.
Another problem common to prior art systems is the problem of wasted indent tape and/or blurred indenting during indenting of card surfaces. This is do to the fact that during the indenting process, the tape is not always advanced a uniform amount between the indenting of characters. If advanced to little, a previously used portion of the tape is reused causing a variation in the appearance of the character. If advanced too much, tape is wasted.
The present invention solves yet other problems associated with the prior art.